Open letter from a father to his racist son. Does he love him, or misunderstand him?
“My name is Pearce Tefft, and I am writing to all, with regards to my youngest son, Peter Tefft, an avowed white nationalist who has been featured in a number of local news stories over the last several months.
On Friday night, my son traveled to Charlottesville, Va., and was interviewed by a national news outlet while marching with reported white nationalists, who allegedly went on to kill a person.
I, along with all of his siblings and his entire family, wish to loudly repudiate my son’s vile, hateful and racist rhetoric and actions. We do not know specifically where he learned these beliefs. He did not learn them at home.
I have shared my home and hearth with friends and acquaintances of every race, gender and creed. I have taught all of my children that all men and women are created equal. That we must love each other all the same.
Evidently Peter has chosen to unlearn these lessons, much to my and his family’s heartbreak and distress. We have been silent up until now, but now we see that this was a mistake. It was the silence of good people that allowed the Nazis to flourish the first time around, and it is the silence of good people that is allowing them to flourish now.
Peter Tefft, my son, is not welcome at our family gatherings any longer. I pray my prodigal son will renounce his hateful beliefs and return home. Then and only then will I lay out the feast.
His hateful opinions are bringing hateful rhetoric to his siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews as well as his parents. Why must we be guilty by association? Again, none of his beliefs were learned at home. We do not, never have, and never will, accept his twisted worldview.
He once joked, ‘The thing about us fascists is, it’s not that we don’t believe in freedom of speech. You can say whatever you want. We’ll just throw you in an oven.’
Peter, you will have to shovel our bodies into the oven, too. Please son, renounce the hate, accept and love all.”
excon
He LOVES him
Side Score: 11
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Sig Heil
Side Score: 15
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I'm of two minds on this but mainly I think if the son is pushed away the only place for him to go is towards the group he's already in, the one that will accept his vile mindset and nurture it more. If I found out my son was a white supremacist I would be utterly heartbroken, that kind of hate wasn't learned in our house, but I would do absolutely everything to get him to change his mind, to learn tolerance and kindness. Even if it means we go to group therapy or visit groups that expose him to the people he would be so against so he can perhaps get a little empathy or SOMETHING but I would absolutely worry that to let him go would be to push him more into extremism. Side: He LOVES him
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Maybe the hate was learned in the house. Maybe one of the many acquaintances invited in to the hearth did something to upset the son. Or maybe the father spent all his time attempting to verify his own ideology and never got know the son for who he was. There is always a reason people get this way. You better be damn sure you understand it before you start excluding them from the family Side: He LOVES him
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In my opinion, his father loves him a lot, but he can't express his beliefs in front of a fascist, which is why the situation got worse. But the problem here isn't of son alone, he should also be blamed for the same, cause when kids grab any bad review about the world or any caste, his father should have corrected him in quite a peaceful and calm manner, because a stubborn personality doesn't get better understanding if he is made to understand in a scolding way. Thus there are some rules to live life, but we can't also ignore his love here. Now, getting back to the ideas of his son, there's always a saying which my mom told me when I was a kid too that: " A man is known by the company he keeps! ". So if his dad was right in his own way to his son, then the company he lives in, his friends his neighbors etc. are responsible for his thinking of putting people in oven! Side: He LOVES him
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It is spelt "Sieg Heil". He clearly wrote that letter to save his own skin. Unfortunately, privacy doesnt truly exist in the US and "vigilantes" will easily get enough information to hunt down this guys family members because of his political views. He shows nothing about how he truly feels about his son. Side: Sig Heil
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